Holder for tetrahedron packages

ABSTRACT

A support device for tetrahedron packages consisting of a single strip of material folded into a pleated structure consisting of alternating V- and inverted V-shaped compartments, the vertices of the V&#39;&#39;s being proportioned to snugly receive the vertical fins of the tetrahedron packages, and a support strip extending across each of the open ends of the V&#39;&#39;s arranged to support the horizontal fins of each of the tetrahedron packages.

United States Patent Howard 51 June 13, 1972 [54] HOLDER FOR TETRAHEDRON2,750,032 6/1956 Laird ..206/62 R PACKAGES 2,920,808 H1960 McWhorter.....229/42 [72] I t D i R H d 140 M l A 3,086,689 4/1963 Wiedenmeier..229/14 C e mse venue 3,261,462 7 1966 P ..206 65 Kenilworth, lll.60043 my T 22 Filed; March 1971 Primary Examiner-Davis T. MoorheadAttorney-Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [21] App]. No.: 119,705

[57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl. 229/42, 206/65 06l5 "(1; A Support devicefor tetrahedron packages consisting ofa Sim [51] 2 gle strip of materialfolded into a pleated structure consisting [58] o arc l of alternatingV- and inverted V-shaped compartments, the vertices of the Vs beingproportioned to snugly receive the vertical fins of the tetrahedronpackages, and a support strip [56] References Clted extending acrosseach of the open ends of the VS arranged to UNITED STATES PATENTSsupport the horizontal fins Of each Of the tetrahedron packages.2,626,050 1/1953 Freiberg ..206/62 R 2,684,153 7/1954 Freiberg ..206/62R 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 5 l Z5 22 P45 25 27 m I 24 ii} I 20 z/ m/7 A? 1. Field of the Invention This inventionis in the field ofshipping or storage cartons for tetrahedron-shaped packages, the cartonscontaining a support device which is foldable on conventional machineryfrom a single strip to provide triangularly shaped compart ments whichreceive the tetrahedron packages in stable relationship.

2. Description of the Prior Art The tetrahedron-type package, usuallycomposed of paper lined with polyethylene or other moisture barrier,consists in a four-sided figure, each side being triangular in shape.The corners between the four surfaces may be sharp or they may berounded, depending on the design of the package. The ends of thetetrahedron package take the form of two fins. When the package is lyingon one of the surfaces, one of the fins is horizontally disposed and theother is vertically disposed. This type of package has become quitepopular for packaging liquid foodstuffs particularly in Sweden and Japanand to some extent in the United States.

The tetrahedron package is much lower in cost than metal or fiber cans,plastic or glass bottles, or flat pillow-shaped pouches, since thetetrahedron pack requires less packaging material, and uses lower costpackaging materials to contain an equal amount of product. Severaldifferent types of machines have been provided for making thesepackages, these machines usually employing a roll of flexible packagingmaterial that is formed into a tube over a vertical round mandrel, withheat sealing of the seams.

The peculiar shape of the tetrahedron package, however, makes itdifficult to handle and to group, nest or stack into compactarrangements for shipping and for retail store display on shelves or instacks. One package heretofore suggested for storing these materialsconsists of a satchel pack which is a generally triangularly shapedsupport structure into which the tetrahedron packages are mounted at anangle to each other, with a handle being provided for carrying purposes.Still another means for storing these packages consists of a fantypepack in which the individual tetrahedron packages are offset from eachother and stored in a generally rectangular box. Still another storagedevice for such packages consists of a package in which the tetrahedronpackages are mounted upright with the weight of the contents of thepackage resting on one of the seams. A still further packaging schemefor such packages has been the so-called random pack where thetetrahedron packages are deployed in a carton in random orientation.

All of these previous support structures for tetrahedron packages havesome disadvantages. in many cases, they do not make a completelyefficient utilization of space. In other cases, the containers arediflicult to manufacture and expensive. In still other cases, thetetrahedron packages are disposed in the containers with significantloads being presented on the fins of the packages due to the staticpressure of the liquid contained in the package.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improvedsupport structure for tetrahedron packages which is compact, makes a maximum utilization of space, and provides adequate support and protectionfor the contents of the packages. Specifically, the support device ofthe present invention is formed from a single strip of material which isfolded into a pleated structure and consists of alternating V- andinverted V-shaped compartments, the vertices of the VS beingproportioned to snugly receive the vertical fins of the tetrahedronpackages, with a support strip extending across each of the open ends ofthe VS arranged to support the horizontal fins of each of thetetrahedron packages. The support strips are struck from the singlestrip and have their free ends adhesively or otherwise secured tovertical walls of the resulting compartments. In

order to provide adequate support, the upper edges of the support stripsare substantially one-half the height of the vertical walls of thecompartments BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Other objects, featuresand advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing, although variations andmodifications may be effected without departing from the spirit andscope of the novel concepts of the disclosure, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank which can be used for forming thesupport structure of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the resulting support structure formed on thetype of blank shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective of a tetrahedron package of the typewith which the present invention is concerned;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the manner in which atetrahedron package is supported with one fin in the vertex of theV-shaped compartment, and the other fin being supported on a supportstrip; and

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective, partially broken away, to illustrate acomplete package in which the support structure may be included.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10indicates generally a blank be made to accommodate any number ofpackages, from two Each of the panels 15 through 18 has a support strip20 to 23, respectively, struck out from the body thereof on three sides,and each of the support strips 20 to 23 is provided with suitable scorelines to define tabs 24 through 27, respectively.

The blank 10 is then folded in pleated fashionas shown in FIG. 2 toprovide a series of triangular V-shaped and inverted V-shapedcompartments 28, 29, 30 and 31. The tab 24 is adhesively or otherwisesecured to the vertical wall provided by the panel 16, the tab 25 issecured to the vertical wall provided by the panel 17, and so on. Theupper edge of the support strip 20 through 23 is located atsubstantially one-half the vertical height of the compartment, as bestillustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing.

The type of package with which the present invention is particularlyconcerned is illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawing. It contains fourtriangular faces, two of which are identified at 32 and 33, and arevisible in FIG. 3. When the tetrahedron package is resting on one of itsfaces, in the position illustrated in FIG. 3, it has a vertical fin 34and a horizontally disposed fin 35. With the tetrahedron packageinserted into the support structure shown in FIG. 4, the horizontal fin35 rests on the top surface of one of the support strips 20, while thevertical fin 34 is snugly received within the vertex angle providedbetween two adjacent vertical wall sections of the support structure, Inthis manner, the support structure provides a loadbearing device inwhich the weight of the contents is distributed throughout the verticallength of the tetrahedron package.

It is also advisable to provide medial score lies along the supportstrips 20, 21, 22 and 23 so that the support structure itself can befolded into a substantially flat package.

The support structure, together with the tetrahedron packages containedtherein, can be enclosed, for example, into a hollow rectangular outershell 36 as illustrated in FIG. 5 of the drawing. Alternatively, theloaded board structure can be overlapped on all sides with plastic filmthat is tightly heat shrunk around all six sides, providing a flat sidedbrick shaped unit which is easyvto stack, handle or display. Such a unitwill support heavy top loads for stacking purposes.

I claim as my invention:

1. A support device for tetrahedron packages comprising a single stripof material folded into a pleated structure consisting of alternating V-and inverted V-shaped compartments, the vertices of the Vs beingproportioned to snugly receive the vertical tins of said tetrahedronpackages, and a support strip extending across each of the open ends ofthe Vs arranged to support the horizontal fins of each of saidtetrahedron packages.

2. The support device of claim 1 in which each of said support strips isfolded centrally thereof to permit folding of said strips of materialinto a compact flat package.

3. The support device of claim 1 in which said support strips are struckfrom said single strip and have their free ends adhesively secured tovertical walls of said compartments.

4. The support device of claim 3 in which the upper edges of saidsupport strips are at substantially one half the height of the verticalwalls of said compartments.

5. A blank for forming a support for tetrahedron packages comprising asingle flat sheet having parallel spaced score lines formed thereinpermitting the blank to be folded into a pleated structure consisting ofan alternating series of V- and inverted V-shaped compartments andintegral strips formed in some of the walls of said compartmentsarranged to extend across the open ends of said V-shaped compartmentsinto engagement with the adjoining wall.-

6. The blank of claim 5 which includes a score line on each of saidstrips adjacent the end thereof, thereby providing tabs for securingsaid strips to said adjoining wall I 7. The blanks of claim 5 in whicheach of said strips has a score line centrally thereof.

1. A support device for tetrahedron packages comprising a single stripof material folded into a pleated structure consisting of alternating V-and inverted V-shaped compartments, the vertices of the V''s beingproportioned to snugly receive the vertical fins of said tetrahedronpackages, and a support strip extending across each of the open ends ofthe V''s arranged to support the horizontal fins of each of saidtetrahedron packages.
 2. The support device of claim 1 in which each ofsaid support strips is folded centrally thereof to permit folding ofsaid strips of material into a compact flat package.
 3. The supportdevice of claim 1 in which said support strips are struck from saidsingle strip and have their free ends adhesively secured to verticalwalls of said compartments.
 4. The support device of claim 3 in whichthe upper edges of said support strips are at substantially one half theheight of the vertical walls of said compartments.
 5. A blank forforming a support for tetrahedron packages comprising a single flatsheet having parallel spaced score lines formed therein permitting theblank to be folded into a pleated structure consisting of an alternatingseries of V- and inverted V-shaped compartments and integral stripsformed in some of the walls of said compartments arranged to extendacross the open ends of said V-shaped compartments into engagement withthe adjoining wall.
 6. The blank of claim 5 which includes a score lineon each of said strips adjacent the end thereof, thereby providing tabsfor securing said strips to said adjoining wall.
 7. The blanks of claim5 in which each of said strips has a score line centrally thereof.